What if Fray Tormenta was a masochist?
"This is what you want, right?"
Kick-Heart is a 2013 Anime short film produced by Production I.G and directed by Masaaki Yuasa. After a successful crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to produce the film, it was screened on Toonami as well as at numerous film festivals.
The film stars Romeo Maki (Tatsuhisa Suzuki), the owner of a run-down orphanage strapped for funds, who also lives a double-life as the masked wrestler Masked Man M. One night, Masked Man M unexpectedly wins a tag match Lady S (Takako Honda), the #1 star of the promotion they both work for. Later that same night, Romeo learns that he's been booked to go one-on-one against Lady S in a no-holds-barred death match for the ages. Promised a prize of 50 million yen if he wins, Romeo suits up for the biggest match of his life.
The film received positive reviews and won awards at many of the film festivals it was screened at.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: Vacuum Fat has black skin.
- Censor Bar: Romeo has one over his face at all times, because as a masked wrestler his identity is supposed to be secret. At the end, a similar bar appears over Juliet's face as well, revealing her Lady S.
- Chivalrous Pervert: Romeo is a porn addict and a closet masochist, but his dedication to the orphanage is genuine. Seeing the kids in the audience motivates him to not give up against Lady S.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Masked Man M enjoys pain, especially if it's a woman inflicting it on him. Despite this, he's still a skilled wrestler that won his match against Lady S and Vacuum Fat legitimately, with a springboard hurricanrana no less. He would have beaten Lady S in their one-on-one rematch too, had he not been told by the ref to throw it at the last second.
- Death or Glory Attack: Lady S goes for some sort of springboard attack which she jumps to inhuman heights to execute. Masked Man M gets out of the way just in time, and the impact leaves a crater in the ring and knocks Lady S outcold.
- Deranged Animation: Used liberally to help illustrate Masked Man M's feelings whenever he witnesses or experiences pain.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Masked Man M loses the match, but his popularity skyrockets due to his strong showing in it, and the orphanage is renovated anyway. Why? Because Juliet is Lady S.
- Establishing Character Moment: Lady S dropkicking Masked Man M in the chest causes him to moan in pleasure and leave a heart imprint.
- Foreshadowing: A Meaningful Background Event when Romeo arrives back at the orphanage shows Juliet replacing Romeo's porn magazine with a wrestling one with Masked Man M on the cover. Now where did she get that?
- The Fundamentalist: The old nun at the orphanage considers pro wrestling for filthy beasts and subjects Juliet to corporal punishment for leaving the orphanage grounds without permission.
- Heroic Second Wind: Lady S has Masked Man M trapped in a submission hold, and the pain is becoming a bit much even for him. However, he spots the kids at his orphanage in the crowd and this motivates him to slowly inch his way to the ropes to force a break.
- Instant Costume Change: Masked Man M switches from his wrestling gear to his civilian attire as Romeo Maki in two seconds.
- Loved by All: Romeo is well-loved by the children of his orphanage and gets massively over as Masked Man M by the end of the film.
- Love at First Sight: Romeo is instantly attracted to Juliet as soon as he meets her.
- Paper Tiger: Vacuum Fat looks imposing at first, but her sole method of attack is a string of ineffectual body chops. She's then taken out when Masked Man M hurls her to the outside of the ring with a hurricanrana, causing her team to lose by count-out.
- Pro Wrestling Is Real
- The Reveal: It's revealed in the last few seconds of the film that Lady S is Juliet.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Masked Man M and Devil Chicken flee the arena when they beat Lady S and Vacuum Fat against the wishes of their boss.
- Shout-Out:
- The two leads are named Romeo and Juliet.
- Romeo's story of moonlighting as a masked wrestler to provide for his orphanage brings to mind Fray Tormenta
, a Catholic priest that did much the same.
- Throwing the Fight: The referee instructs Masked Man M to do this when he's about to pin Lady S. He complies.
- Too Kinky to Torture: Masked Man M enjoys the pain he endures while wrestling, especially when it's Lady S dishing it out.
- With Catlike Tread: Romeo attempts to discreetly buy a BDSM magazine from a vending machine, only for it to loudly thank him for his purchase and wake up the whole neighborhood.
